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Doctor Who: Podshock - Episode 97
Authored by: DarthSkeptical on Sunday, March 02 2008 @ 01:44 AM EST
Finally had time to listen to this one, and I have to take issue with Joe in his
observation that "Troughton was the only
Doctor ever to only have . . . non-contemporary companions". He spent
all
but one story of his
first season traveling with two: 1965's Ben and Polly.
And then there's the nitpicky point. In the original Sherwin/Dicks/Letts concept, UNIT stories were meant to be set in the near future. "The Web of Fear" is, based on dialogue which compares the time frame to that of "The Abominable Snowman", in or after 1975. "The Invasion" is said through dialogue to be four years later still. Sarah later says directly that she's from 1980 in "Pyramids". Now, I'm not saying it's all tight as a drum — there's conflicting information based upon incidental statements — but until JNT there's a preponderance of evidence that UNIT stories weren't contemporary. JNT then goes and screws all this up, starting with K-9 and Company where it's suddenly (by explicit dialogue) 1981 and Sarah's been apart from the Doctor for three years. She would have therefore received K-9 Mk III in 1978, two years before she met the Doctor. "Mawdryn Undead" does further damage by suggesting that the Brig retired in 1976. "Battlefield", clearly set quite in advance of 1989, then screws this up again by having the Brig fairly newly retired. So, sure, trying to slap a date on UNIT is difficult or impossible, when you have the entire body of classic Doctor Who to consider. But if you were watching the shows as they were broadcast, you would've had a clear sense that the Pertwee era wasn't in the early 1970s, thus making all of his companions from the near future. Finally, if you take Sarah at her HInchcliffe-era word that she (and therefore also Harry) are from 1980, then the Fourth Doctor also never travelled with contemporary companions. If you're more of a JNT-believer, Baker still had more episodes traveling without a 20th century companion than Troughton's total episode count. On another matter, I was somewhat shocked to find "The Enemy of the World" getting no mention at all. It's easily Victoria's finest hour, and a Patrick Troughton tour de force. Plus, it breaks the pattern of the Troughton era by avoiding monsters entirely. Consequently, it's unusual in the entire run of Doctor Who for being an Earthbound episode that has nothing to do with an invasion. --- |
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And there are lot's of mentions of Zoe!!!
Cheers, daveac
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